The present invention relates to an adapter for pay telephone stations and, more particularly, to an adapter which permits a repair technician's data terminal or other data communications or telephone equipment to be easily connected to a C-set or D-set in a simple yet effective manner.
In the past, repair technicians using test sets have had to use alligator clips to connect to screw or other terminals in telephone pay stations in order to make electrical connections. Some modern pay station designs do not permit such connections, however, in an easy manner because of the absence of terminals or of the terminal types used.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an adapter which will permit the easy yet effective connection of a repair technician's data terminal and similar data communications equipment to the pay station.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an adapter which permits the connection of a test set to a C-set or D-set.
It is a further object of the present invention to configure an adapter so as to be able to negotiate unique and separate obstacles within the pay station housing of C and D type telephones.
The foregoing objects have been achieved in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention by providing an adapter in the form of a housing having a cross-section defined by different radii and provided with pins for connection to an 11-pin connector such as a socket in a C-set or a D-set configuration. The housing is also provided with a handle for allowing a finger to pass through an aperture in the handle to insert or remove the adapter into the 11-pin connector in the set. A label on the housing provides appropriate polarization by indicating to the repair technician which jack to use for inserting the modular cord/connector plug for either a C-set or a D-set.
It is an additional object of another embodiment of the present invention to provide an adaptor unit comprised of a single jack with a C/D configuration selector.
Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize a two-part adapter in which an 11-pin connector is attached via an electrical cable with RJ11 jacks.